Pictures are here!

Rhino Park
Last month we went to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe, Botswana. The Sanctuary is home of 33 white rhinos; we saw about 16—many of them from close up like this guy.

AIDs Awareness Rally
March was Youth Awareness of AIDs month. My school, Mmaphula CJSS, invited the Operation:HIV team to participate in a school-wide assembly. The theme of the assembly was “Commit to a Zero Transmission Lifestyle.” Many of the school’s clubs participated too. They sang songs, read poems, did dramas, and performed traditional dances. Our team did an illustration about a story of two students, Naladi and Tebogo, who are thinking about having sex. We had students from the audience come up and represent each character as we read this story:
"We are going to pretend that our two volunteers are boyfriend and girlfriend. Their names will be Tebogo and Naledi. They have been together for 4 months and they feel that they are hopelessly in love. They want to make a mature decision about beginning a sexual relationship, so they have talked about their desires. During their conversations, Tebogo told Naledi that he has had one previous sexual relationship – his ex-girlfriend. (bring another girl up to represent the ex-girlfriend) Naledi told Tebogo that she has never been in love before, so he thinks she is a virgin.

Before you make a decision about having sex, Naledi, we need to tell you something. Tebogo doesn’t know this, but while he was with his ex-girlfriend, she had sex with another boy while he was visiting his family in Mochudi. (bring a boy up to be this sexual partner) What Tebogo’s ex-girlfriend didn’t know is that this boy had sex with 3 other girls before her. (bring 3 girls up) Oh, and one more thing. Tebogo wasn’t completely honest about his sexual past. While he was in Mochudi he had sex with a girl at a chill session. And prior to that, he had sex with one other girlfriend. (bring 2 more girls up)

Now, Tebogo, we have some news for you, too. Naledi has led you to believe that she is a virgin by telling you that she has never been in love before. But even though she wasn’t in love, she had sex with 2 other boys. (bring up 2 boys) What Naledi didn’t know was that one of them had already had sex with a girl before her. (bring up another girl)

Now, you still have to make the decision about whether to have sex or not. Let’s help these students make a decision."

After the story we talked about how God created sex to represent the most intimate connection between two people. Sex is not only an emotional connection but a physical connection, which is evident by the exchange of body fluids. We then gave each of our participants a cup of soda and had them take a sip and then spit it into two communal cups. One cup represented Naladi’s sexual past and the other, Tebogo’s. We then asked the students representing Naladi and Tebogo if they would be willing to drink each other’s cup of spit. The students were completely grossed out by this idea! We talked about what would happen if one of the people whose “body fluid” (spit) was in the cup was HIV+. The students at the rally really liked the illustration showing the dangers of sex before marriage. We were able to challenge the students to make a commitment to abstinence until marriage—the only true way to lead a zero transmission lifestyle. This picture is of the students participating in the demonstration.


This next picture is of my littlest children’s choir. The kid’s favorite musical game to play is “Little Sally Walker.” It’s so cute when they try to sing it because they only know a few words…so it comes out like: “Little Sally Walker..da da hmm ma de…” They however have the dancing part down!


Every Friday we play soccer with the little kids from our church. Sometimes if we are running errands in town before we go to play I will wear a wrap over my shorts. Here, one of the kids, Shaddrach, has gotten a hold of my wrap and was prancing around pretending to be me. I just had to take a picture!


Right now the students are on “holiday.” They have finished their first term of the year and are on vacation until May 2. As I was saying goodbye to some of my boys in one of my classes this conversation occurred that is too cute not to share:
Mma Weaver: Well, I will see you boys next term. Be safe, okay?
Student 1: Mma Weaver, I love you!
Student 2: Mma Weaver, I love you too much!
Student 3: No, Mma Weaver, I love you three much!
Student 4: No, Mma Weaver, I love you four much!

During this break we are having several outreach events for the students. This Monday we are showing the movie “The Passion of the Christ” and having a discussion afterwards. Please be in prayer for this event.

Also be in prayer as Kelly, Crystal, and I travel. This month we have several meetings with the Baptist mission in Botswana and in South Africa.

Also please pray for Palapye Baptist Church. Two of the Brazilian missionaries who were instrumental in planting the church are going back to Brazil in May. Pray for this transition and pray that many of the Motswana will step into leadership roles.

Thanks for reading this long update!
Check out Crystal and Kelly’s blogs for more about what’s going on in Palapye and for more pictures:
cdabs.blogspot.com
believernbotswana.blogspot.com